The raft of recent changes at the Proact suggest that maybe Martin Allen isn’t so mad after all.

The man who has carried the nickname Mad Dog throughout his career is refusing to do the same thing over and over while expecting different results – the definition of insanity.

In order to get different results, he’s doing something different, with different players.

The arrival of Tom Denton caused a ripple of debate over the Spireites’ potential style of play and his suitability for this club, but this week’s announcements have split the fanbase like Moses parting the Red Sea.

On one hand you have those who ask for stability, a settled side, those who worry that all these changes are a haphazard, kneejerk reaction, a stab in the dark to try and reignite a season.

Robbie Weir’s naming as captain, only to be transfer listed after 11 games, was described as ‘random,’ ‘desperate,’ and ‘irrational’ by a number of alarmed Spireites.

An argument that rather than ditching players, the Chesterfield management team should coach them to improvement has been put forward in one or two places.

Others have gleefully welcomed the news of Weir’s potential departure from the Proact.

A perceived lack of mobility and Town’s struggle to retain possession in the middle of the park have put the midfielders under the spotlight – Weir in particular given the strife encountered in that area of the pitch last season.

Whether tactics or fitness were to blame, he’s failed to last the full 90 minutes in six of his 10 starts this season.

And while stats never can tell the full story about a player’s contribution to a club’s form, Weir and his fellow transfer listed first teamer Brad Barry have endured a torrid time over the past two years.

They were both relegated with their previous club before arriving at the Proact in the summer of 2017, then failed to prevent Chesterfield from suffering the same fate.

They have, to put it plainly, lost too many football matches and it cannot have been much fun at all.